Viewpoints
10 | February 11, 2013
Sports
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Men’s basketball earn their stripes travis West Staff Writer After ending 2012 with a 10-5 record, the Riverside City College men’s basketball team has established themselves as a powerhouse in the Orange Empire Conference with a 7-1 record against conference teams and a 16-7 record overall. The team has found a formula for success and is thriving. In the month of January, the Tigers have gone 7-1 with the team’s only loss coming from their rival, Saddleback Gauchos 56-52 at the Wheelock Gym on Jan. 23. In that game, The Tigers were held to a total of four field goals in the entire first half of play and went 1 for 7 from the three-point line. At their lowest point, the Tigers were down by 8 points and if it wasn’t for the 11 turnovers by the Gauchos the Tigers may have been out of the game early, but the team fought back and were only down 17 to 15 at halftime. In the second half, the Tigers overcame the Gauchos onslaught and tied the score at 46 with two minutes left to play. Down the stretch, the two teams traded bucket for bucket as the clock reached the one minute mark. However, the Tigers missed an easy lay up opportunity to tie the game and the Gauchos took advantage of the free throws and extended their lead. It was a tough loss, but players felt that game prepared them for what the final month would feel like before playoffs. The most impressive thing about the Tigers this season is that all the players are buying into head coach John Smith’s system. It is hard to pick out just one player on the Tigers who consistently dominates. Instead the Tigers give their opposition problems because they cannot key in on one player. With the loss to the Gauchos fresh on their minds, the Tigers
Paul Ledesma/special to Viewpoints
Tuned in: Head coach John Smith gathers his team during a time out at the Wheelock gymnasium. looked to take their frustrations out on the Irvine Valley Lasers just two days later at home. The Lasers are very undersized and it was the Tigers point of attack. The Tigers went 26 for 42 from the field with most points coming from the low-post. The Lasers made a run in the second half closing the Tiger lead to four points with six minutes remaining, but the Tigers rallied back and kept getting to the free throw line where the Tigers knocked down 18 out of 27 free throws. Smith stressed free throws all week leading up to the game and they responded when they needed to. All five of the Tigers starters played more than 20 minutes and each had points in the double
digits. Freshman Anthony Rounds was part of the starting five and contributes coach Smith to why the team had success. “Coach lets us shoot the ball. He told me that if I’m open, then let the shot go,” Rounds said. Sophomore guard and conference leader in assists, Mason Biddle finished with nine assists and 18 points as the Tigers won 74-63. The Tiger’s momentum rolled into their most recent home game against the Orange Coast College Pirates on Jan. 30. The Tigers ran away with an easy 81-56 blowout victory over the Pirates. Tigers out rebounded the Pirates 49 to 23, with 23 of the Tigers rebounds came on the offensive end.
Multiple looks at the basket won the game for the Tigers. It was another victory that showed that the team can get scoring from any player. Nearly every player on the Tiger roster had at least one point, but only two players had double digits. Teams that have multiple scorers on any given night sometimes have issues with players not getting enough touches, not this team. During the team photo session the players were seen cracking jokes and showing that they are still college kids at heart. Coach Smith is known to take his players on trips before the season for team building and the players have showed that they would make sacrifices for the team. The team is at the point in the
season where everything matters and every win is crucial. Reaching the state finals with leadership from coach Smith and the other coaching staff is a very realistic possibility and up to this point, the Tigers have shown that they can compete with the best teams in the conference, but will need to keep the momentum going. Coach Smith likes the way his team is performing at the moment and hopes that they peak at the right time. “As we get closer to the end, my rotation won’t be 12 guys. It will be eight or nine sometimes 10 guys that are playing the best.” The team will be on the road for a game at Fullerton on Feb. 8. They will make their next home appearance on Feb. 13 against Santa Ana College.
When asked about her team starting off the season 2-0 with a two game win streak, head coach Michelle Daddona explains, “We knew we were going to open this year with an extremely tough schedule because originally we were scheduled to double header
with (Sacramento) City and Mt. Sac and then shortly after that Cerritos. Sacramento City we knew was going to be very strong this year. Mt. Sac and Cerritos are both always strong contenders so right off the bat we could have been off to a start where we didn’t pile up a lot of victories but we also knew for ourselves that we really felt we were going to have a very strong team coming in to 2013.” Coach Daddona also explains that there are some things that need to be worked on, “Right now our biggest challenge has been team practices because we have a couple people that have their class schedule so they are not out here the same time as we are so that’s why this last week we made an adjustment in practice times so that way everybody could be here.” In their game against Mt. Sac, the Tigers came out not really ready to play, but they started realizing what needed to be done
and came out on top with a final score of 7-3. In their second game of the season which was against the Cerritos College Falcons, Sophomore right hand pitcher Katherine Macias helped contribute to the win by hitting a two-run home run and sophomore second basemen Gina Grijalva went four for four to propel the host team RCC Tigers women’s Fastpitch team to a 7-3 non-conference win over the visiting Cerritos College Falcons Friday afternoon at Evans Sports Complex on Feb. 1. Macias, who is from Riverside Arlington high school, broke a 2-2 tie with her second at bat of the season, a two-run bomb over the left field, to give the Tigers a 4-2 lead. She also had a RBI single in the first inning and finished by going two for four with three RBI‘s and one run scored. She struggled in the beginning with her control, but went the distance and
allowed eight hits and three runs all unearned with five walks and seven strikeouts. Macias who is 1-0, tossed a whopping 166 pitches with 107 strikes. Grijalva out of Fontana Summit High school singled in the first, third, fourth and sixth innings for the Tigers. Cerritos tied the game with two unearned runs in the second on a fielding error; a RBI single by Andrea Arellano and a RBI double by Jamie Ramirez (which scored Arellano.) Arellano added a RBI single in the sixth as well. Starting RHP Ramirez (1-1) lasted only the first two innings as she allowed three runs (all earned) on five hits. Both teams continued nonconference action this week. Cerritos hosted Palomar College where Cerritos lost 8-0. Riverside will visit the Southwestern College Jaguars on Wednesday, Feb. 6, at 3 p.m.
Tigers pounce on the competition early Jarred Jackson Staff Writer
Things are looking good so far for the Riverside City College Softball team as they gear up for the start of the season. They are already 2-0 in non-conference play.
Albert Melendez/ special to viewpoints
GETTING UP: The Tigers are off to a 2-0 start.